accidents for the holidays

the other evening, in preparation for a homemade christmas party, i was working like crazy on a present for my dear friend gaby (who's name i drew).  i was using scissors to cut something that really shouldn't have been cut with scissors, and sliced my finger open.  i always get so woozy when i spy even the slightest drop of blood and was completely alone, so i shakily bandaged myself up and then put my head between my knees.  

soon enough i felt better and got together with mip and hadz.  then came the call that my sister trish was in an ambulance on her way to the e.r.  she had been hit by a car while crossing the street on her way home from the subway, about one block away from home.  it was a hit and run. luckily she is ok, other than bumps, sprains, and bruises.  

i would like to say, though, that it makes me sick to think that some person out there knows what they did and washed their hands of it.  so if you've recently hit someone with your car and drove away from the accident without fessing up, (and are currently reading my blog), please know that many people are very upset with you.  that is all.

one more christmas thing

if you're not getting a christmas tree this year, like me (sniff), then at least your place can smell like you have one.  this stuff is amazing.

christmas music, yay!

you may or may not know, but i really love christmas music.  if there was enough variety i could listen year round.  it's just so nice sounding.  anyway, i have a lot of new and old favorites playing this year.  here is my current playlist:

it's that time of year- manhattans

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas- bing crosby

x-mas song- fireflies

donna & blitzen- badly drawn boy

(everybody's waiting for) the man with the bag- kay starr

have yourself a merry little christmas- bright eyes

the christmas song- the raveonettes

what are you doing new year's eve?- mel torme

christmas dreaming- frank sinatra

oh little town of bethlehem- bright eyes

lo, how a rose e're blooming- feist

god rest ye merry gentlemen- pedro the lion

i've got my love to keep me warm- billie holiday

merry christmas (i don't want to fight tonight)- the ramones

santa baby- eartha kitt

the first noel- pedro the lion

all that i want- the weepies

candy cane children- the white stripes

the christmas song- nat king cole

snowflakes- evangelicals

the little drummer boy- deerhoof

silent night- my morning jacket

what child is this- dave brubeck

winter wonderland- dean martin

carol of the bells- the bird and the bee

santa claus is coming to town- mason jennings

have yourself a merry little christmas- hem

holiday mood- apples in stereo

plus i'm still in love with low's christmas album and sufjan steven's.  i love all the old crooners and elvis.  why not?  

listing wishes

well it's christmas time again, and i'm sure those of you who read my blog are just dying to know what i would ask for.  well, i won't keep it from you any longer.  my wishes are simple this year.

normal jeans that fit me right and a pair of cords.  haven't had some of those in years.

a warm, cute, and long coat.

a hairdryer with a retractable cord.  so much easier to store.  rosemary mint anything from aveda.  a wood handled brush.

and some boots that hopefully won't wear out in a year.

nothing too glamorous, just some things i need but haven't been able to get yet.  that's all.

first dublin

when we first got there it was five in the morning.  we had a little trouble figuring out the correct bus transfer/ bus stop to get to our hotel so we didn't actually get there until 9 or so.  but the good news is that we figured out we had the flag down the bus (it doesn't automatically stop at the bus stop), you have to have exact change in coins or you can't ride, and dublin is cold when it's rainy and you're waiting outside for a bus for a couple of hours.  good times.  

at least our hotel was cool.  it was called the charleville lodge and was a little out of dublin city center, but easy to reach by bus (once you figure them out).  look how tired we were that first day.  

dublin is full of cute little buildings and row houses.

lots of them have unique doors.  i once heard it's because the men would come home from the pub at night drunk as a skunk and couldn't figure out what house was theirs unless they could distinguish the door somehow.

photo by zack

the ha'penny bridge and christchurch cathedral.

more cute buildings by the river and an awesome neon sign which covered an entire building.  yes it does say  "the happy ring house" and the diamond ring flashed, as well as the bells.  unfortunately the groom was burned out.

cute little irish looking building by dublin castle.

a pub (one of millions but this one had really cool windows), and some mansize tissues.

death rests within.

medieval stuff.

this was on a street they have with lots of cute shops and the christmas decorations were up already.  it was rather charming.  

dublin castle from the chester beatty museum.  we had a good couple days in dublin, saw lots of pubs and drunkards, met nice people, ate irish food, saw illuminated manuscripts, old libraries, and photos of ireland.  then we were off to paris...

halloween, a bit late

this is what we ate in the morning.

these are the other freaks costumes: a corpse and an undertaker, and the morton salt girl

and this was zack's costume.  he was a heavy metal drummer and made the drums himself.  unfortunately they could not withstand his rocking.  they looked really cool though.

the walk home, just carrying a coffin.  i love my hood.

one time...

i made good ol' mac and cheese with peas in it which, by the way, is one of my favorite thing (because yes- i am four years old).  anyway, once i was finished stirring the bright orange powder into the hot noodles and milk, this is how the spoon came out.  i'm not sure why this is the funniest thing in the world to me, it just is.  

what a sweetie...

my dear husband gave me a trip to europe (dublin and paris) for our one year wedding anniversary in september.  we just got back from the trip and i am very happy to tell you that i love europe.  everything was amazing from the food to the museums, the architecture to the weather.  the only thing i didn't really enjoy was the crazy rude parisians.  anyway, i'll definitely be posting pictures later, zack just has the card reader on a job at the moment.  

pumpkin festival in central park

a few days before halloween zack and i went to the pumpkin festival in central park.  it was rainy and cold and very fall-like.  i love pumpkins and, although we missed getting a free one, it was quite enjoyable.

they got elementary schools around the city to carve all the pumpkins.  it was really cool, there were hundreds lining the paths.

this column is right near the bethesda fountain and it randomly has a witch and an owl carved into it.  how appropriate.

my poor pumpkin

before and after

about time for a new posting

so i was just waiting for something important enough to post about and here it is.  my favorite port-a-potty company "johnny on the spot".  

just kidding, really we just haven't had internet for about a month.  good times.

delayed response

so gaby tagged me ages ago, and i just haven't gotten around to responding yet. such a bad blogger. here goes...

10 years ago i...

1. was just starting high school

2. thought i wanted to major in piano performance

3. hated wearing shorts and short skirts

4. loved u2, the cranberries, and bush

5. was definitely chubbier than i am now

5 things on today's to-do list

1. get ready for the day at some point

2. retouch amelia bedelia pictures for mip's (my sister's) freelance design job

3. take vitamins and drink lots, cause now i'm definitely getting a cold

4. help zack shave his head again

5. clean, clean, clean

5 snacks i enjoy

1. goldfish crackers, whole grain variety (although i do thoroughly enjoy the new graham goldfish)

2. anything to do with ice cream or frozen yogurt

3. trader joe's peanut butter filled pretzels

4. trader joe's vanilla almond granola bars

5. dried fruit

5 places i have lived

1. salt lake city, ut

2. provo, ut

3. new york, ny

4. south provo, ut

5. and new york again

5 jobs i have had

1. photo processor- campus photo, provo

2. photo archivist/ darkroom printer- special collections, harold b. lee library, byu campus

3. studio manager for photographer rodney smith, palisades, ny

4. assistant for photographer nicole hill/ retoucher- rubberball, orem, ut

5. freelance photographer/ retoucher- uncommon goods, brooklyn, ny

5 pet peeves

1. people being unnecessarily rude

2. the bed being unmade when i get in it at night. i can't stand the sheets and blankets all twisted.

3. people with disgusting habits in public places (i.e. picking their nose next to me on the subway, smoking right in front of my while walking on the sidewalk)

4. unruly children whose parent's don't really care

5. apartments with major problems and landlords who don't care

5 things that bring me joy

1. rainy fall days

2. pumpkins (i'm really not trying to copy gaby, we just happen to have some things in common)

3. my family, especially zack, and friends

4. a good road trip

5. a good treat (ice cream or anything pumpkin flavored preferably)

5 people i tag

1. zack

2. adam and darcie

3. ashley mae

4. clay and ashley

5. marc

sorry for the lack of blogging

busy times here.  we've gone to pennsylvania, jersey, and utah.  we watched conference.  we applied for apartments.  we applied for jobs.  we've just been busy in general.  things will happen on this blog soon though.  wait for it.

teal laundromat

with a cool ceiling

crazy museums

while we were on the trip last weekend we went to the mercer museum and the fonthill museum both of which were insane.  both were built by henry mercer, one to house his collection of art and antique artifacts, the other for his own house.  

he was a tile maker by profession, but also loved archeology, history, art, etc.  he found it really important to collect and catalogue artifacts of everyday life, as well as art and historical objects.  he wanted his collection to be safe from fire and elements, so he built his house and his museum out of concrete, with totally inexperienced workers.  they would built what they wanted to room to be like with anything they could find and cover it with sand and concrete.  once the concrete was set, they would take out all the garbage.  they also made molds for the columns and things out of wood, so the concrete set with wood grain in it.  it was so crazy to see how much stuff he had in there.  everything from boats and carriages to old medical supplies and dishes were on the walls, in little rooms, on shelves, and even hanging from the ceiling.

unfortunately i could take any pictures inside, but the outsides were crazy too.  the picture on the left was his house, which he called his concrete castle, the one on the right is his museum.  nuts.  if you're ever in bucks county, it's definitely worth seeing.  check out this link.

our trip to pa

last weekend we went to pennsylvania and new jersey.  mostly to small towns, but we stopped in philly too before we headed home.  here are some photos.

this is frenchtown.  it was sunday evening when we got there so unfortunately not much was open.  it looked cute though.

so we hung out by the delaware river and took these pics.  good times.

zack's new little friend

stella smoot.  zack is rather good with kids.  it seems like they always take a liking to him.

astroland to close for good

i knew it was necessary to take that ride on the cyclone.  although the cyclone itself will not be closing, because it's a historic landmark, the park that surrounds it will close it's doors for good this sunday.  it's the end of an era.  read more here.

and the polaroids

coney island baby

zack and i finally went to coney island the other day.  we've been wanting to go ever since we got here.  here are some photos...

the parachute drop, no longer in operation.  it must have been a terrifying ride, frankly.

the wonder wheel.  unfortunately we didn't ride it this time.  it's so much fun.

we made it our goal to ride the cyclone before it closed for the season, so we did. 

sad things.  a remnant of playland, no longer in operation obviously, and a shot leaving coney through the subway window.

and then zack met woody allen

vicky cristina barcelona

zack and i are, of course, really into woody allen movies and this one did not disappoint.  it was really lovely actually.  it made me want to move to europe so badly. 

p.s. smoking has to be the most disgusting thing, but doesn't penelope cruz make it look hot somehow?

why no more?

why was there only one season of freaks and geeks?  oh why?  we just finished watching the entire series and i'm crying myself to sleep cause it's all over.  so sad.  bill is my personal fave.

ty's b-day

good times, good people, good food, good disco ball, good dancing (i hear)